Useful Pages

Friday, July 31, 2009

I have been a fan of Rick Geary's ever since I picked up his The Borden Tragedy, which retells the historical murders of Lizzie Borden's parents in Fall River. Geary has a treasure trove of mysteries for the history buff and graphic novel fan.

His black and white style places the emphasis on the facts, or should I say perceived facts, of each case while also framing each tale. One of his trademarks is to create a cross section of the building(s) where the murder happens.

Recently I read his The Lindbergh Child. It is an incredible telling of the "biggest story since the Resurrection" as H.L. Mencken once said. Geary manages to effortlessly compile the different personal accounts, historical documents to evoke the setting and feeling of that time and place.

Geary has created ten graphic novels covering mysteries and murders ranging from the assassination of Abraham Lincoln to the serial killer Jack the Ripper. He has also eight other graphic novels such as Gumby and a graphic biography of J. Edgar Hoover. Most, if not all, of these are owned by the Minuteman Library Network. Our friendly reference libraries can help you place a request on any of these titles. If there is a title not in Minuteman then you can ask us in Interlibrary Loan (ask the Reference Desk to send ILL the request) to get it for you from anywhere in the country.

I hope you'll give Geary's works a chance and that you'll enjoy them as much as I do.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

On Wednesday, at 6 p.m. on August 5th, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson will be at Boston Public Library's Copley Main Library to herald the release of their new book,The Winds of Dune. If you have any interest in Science Fiction, you know about the Dune Saga which was conceived by Frank Herbert, Brians's father, back in 1965 with the publication of Dune. Dune won awards such as the Hugo Award (1966) and the inaugural Nebula Award (1965) for Best Novel. It was made into a movie in 1984 and you may remember it as a television miniseries in 2000.

When Frank passed on in 1986, fans had to wait until 1999 when the series was continued by his son, Brian, and Kevin J. Anderson (author of Star Wars and X-Files spin-off novels) using Frank's notes. The Winds of Dune is their latest addition to the saga.

In case you have not been enticed to pick up the series but like reading fiction placed in the future and dealing with human survival, ecology, evolution, potitics, power, and even a little religion, add this classic series to your reading list.

So, If you are a fan or even a Science Fiction guru, make tracks to the Copley Branch on August 15 SH

The Moon has fascinated people for years. Now Real Moon Rocks are coming to the Wellesley Free Library.

Finally 40 year after we first landed a man on the moon we are going back. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched on June 18th. According to Astrobiology Magizine the recent missions will pave the way for a returned maned mission.

"NASA’s LRO will use its instruments to collect detailed information about the lunar environment from a low polar orbit. "

"NASA's LCROSS mission will confirm the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at the Moon's South Pole."

"LRO and LCROSS will provide essential information for NASA's return to the moon. NASA is currently developing a new fleet of spacecrafts and rockets in order to transport equipment and human explorers to the Moon. In the near future, humankind may once again spread its reach beyond our home planet."

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Did you know that over 1000 books have been made into movies? You’ve probably never heard of many of them.Several have morphed into movies with a similar story line but completely different title.The following is a sampling of some you may want to reread, view again, or both.

---------------BOOK--------------------------------MOVIE----------

Baldacci, David -Absolute Power--------- Absolute Power -1997

Blake, Michael-Dances with Wolves------Dances with Wolves - 1990

Clancy, Tom-Patriot Games----------------Patriot Games - 1992

Courtenay, Bryce-Power of One----------Power of One - 1992

Fleming, Ian – Casino Royale---------------Casino Royale – 2006

Harris, Joanne – Chocolat-------------------Chocolat - 2000

Hyde, Katherine Ryan – Pay it Forward----Pay it Forward -2000

Hornby, Nick – About a Boy------------------About a Boy - 2002

Lehane, Dennis – Mystic River-------------- Mystic River – 2003

McCarthy, Cormac – All the Pretty Horses-All the Pretty Horses – 2000

Miiller,Sue –The Good Mother--------------The Good Mother - 1988

O’Brien, John – Leaving Las Vegas -----------Leaving Las Vegas - 1995

Theroux, Paul – Mosquito Coast--------------Mosquito Coast – 1986

Sparks, Nicholas – Message in a Bottle-------Message in a Bottle – 1999

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Gov GabIt seems counterintuitive--a chatty, personable blog by yes, the US Government! Who knew? Did I mean to say about the US Government? Noooo. Did I mean to say the Austin TX Government? Nooo, the United States Government has a light and informative blog with a staff (now there's a job) of seven Gen Y'ers with names, pictures, hobbies and everything. They blog (in the first person) on behalf of the United States on such subjects as public service jobs, getting a good night's sleep and the new Car Allowance Rebate System.But wait, in my astonishment, I forgot the whole reason for this post! This official US blog, Govgab, is asking readers to write in about your local library. If your local library is the Wellesley Free Library, I'm sure you have lots of wonderful things to say...--RL

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Looking for a best seller at the library? Don't want to go on the waiting list for that new Dan Brown book coming out in September? Check out the Friends of the Library Rental Book Collection. The Rental Book Collection has all the bestsellers from the past year and the charge is $1 a week to borrow these books. The money goes to the Friends of the Library. Look for the Rental Books on the first floor of the library right next to the new book section.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

A scolding of seamstresses.An intrusion of cockroaches.(Would you believe a nucleus of physicists?)I know it's not just me who enjoys the sound of collective nouns. I mean these are odd beasts, these (verifiable) words for groups of things. A fluther of jellyfish, a mob of wallaby, a conspiracy of ravens...

If you Google (or Bing) collective nouns, there are a bunch of sites with worthy lists, any one of which is guaranteed to improve your day. One simple list I found (connected to a short story site), has a fun addition of some words which should be collective nouns (e.g. the physicists above). Now all we have to do is work a thunder of hippopotami into casual conversation.--RL

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

It must be "these economic times" we're in that's making graphics so popular, as they help us to visualize all of the big numbers and other quantitative information. From my blog reader I've viewed many posts referring to beautifully drawn flowcharts, graphs, timelines and maps that depict events in the economic sphere, so I figured I would share it with you.

The graph to the left came through my feed reader today and prompted me to write this post. Depicting average annual consumer expenditures, this graph from the Visual Economics website pulls information from the Department of Labor's most recent survey and recreates an approachable (and eye-appealing) account of what was probably a very dry report. Sadly enough, only 0.2% ($118) is devoted to reading--four and a half times less than the amount spent on alcohol--but hey, maybe they're all getting library books!

WallStats is another site that depicts information visually, such as their Visual Guide to the Financial Crisis. While its primary goal is to sell posters of these graphical representations, the site also has a blog where you can track the artist's projects.

And let's not forget that there's are lot of great books, too. You can always come to the library and check out some books by Edward Tufte, one of the foremost thinkers in the realm of information visualization.

Monday, July 13, 2009

What are YOU reading this summer?Attend WFL's informal Book Chat and get a whole new outlook on what to read next. Just drop by, share your opinions of the books you've been reading and find out what other avid readers are recommending. This hour flies by!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Say what?Frequent searchers of Google (and who isn't?) may be interested in this little shortcut for a Google date search. We can limit the results by date (past day, week, month or year) in the Advanced Search, but it requires precious seconds of mouse clicking time to get there. So try this instead: After you get your results, append &as_qdr= to the results URL with a d for day, w for week, m for month, etc. As a special bonus, you can make it d2 for two days or m3 for three months or whatever. So here's an example: You search Google for Sarah Palin. The URL for the results looks like this: http://www.google.com/#hl=en&tbs=qdr%3Am6&q=Sarah+Palin&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g5g%3Az1g4&fp=qAuC4DXE5bMAdd &as_qdr=d2 to that URL and your results will be limited to just the last 2 days worth. I think it's pretty cool and I haven't even gotten it memorized yet!--RL

Saturday, July 4, 2009

The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award may not be the most famous award around, but it does give an awful lot of money to the winner. Better yet, it's administered by the Dublin, Ireland city libraries. IMPAC is the corporate sponsor, of course -- the library does not come up with the money. The award is open to books written in any language and nominations are made by libraries in capital and major cities throughout the world. This year's winner is an American and Boston area native, Michael Thomas. He's only published one novel so far, Man Gone Down, but let's hope he has a bright future.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

This summer, to celebrate the 125th birthday of the Wellesley Free Library, we are selling commemorative T-shirts for children. These limited edition tees are available at the Main Library and both branches. Shirts come in kid sizes S-M-L in hot pink or light blue. The cost is $12 or two for $20. All proceeds support the newly formed Wellesley Free Library Foundation. Here's to the next 125 years! -EM